Hello, world!  It’s been a long time!  Your fave Southern girl took a much needed break! Now I’m revived, rejuvinated, and ready for anything!  Today is Happy Black Girl Day, so I’m wishing all my girls a safe, happy, blissful day!  This weekend I took a mini-vacation to Philadelphia to hang out with some of my sorority sisters and their friends and family.  On Sunday, we went to a nice brunch place called Relish.   They had a movie playing, which was “Carmen Jones“, starring the gorgeous Dorothy Dandridge and handsome Harry Belafonte.  This movie inspired today’s post.  Today I will highlight some of the most talented Black women in Hollywood.

First, I must start with Dorothy Dandridge.  If you have never seen it, I highly suggest you watch “Carmen Jones”.  It’s a story of love, loss, and betrayal.  They don’t really make movies like that anymore…A little known fact about Ms. Dandridge is that she was the first African American woman nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. 

Next up is one of my favorites Diahann Carroll.  This woman is TIMELESS!  At 75, she looks better than some women half her age.  Her debut was as a supporting character in “Carmen Jones”, and she was the first black woman to win a Tony Award for her performance in “No Strings”.  I loved her in “Dynasty” as Dominique Devereaux and who can forget her as Whitley Gilbert’s mom, Marion, in “A Different World“???

Another timeless woman is Pam Grier, the original Foxy Brown.  Quentin Tarantino has been quoted as saying, “she may have been cinema’s first female action star.”  If you are a fan of blaxploitation films, then you are no stranger to the talent of Ms. Grier.  A fellow Southern girl, her career spans 40 years, and she shows no signs of slowing down.  Making her mark in the movie and television worlds, she has moved to the literary world with her autobiography “Foxy: My Life in Three Acts”.

If you’re in the DMV, you know there is a Happy Black Girl Day Happy Hour! This month, it will be at Lounge of III on 1013 U St. NW.  Who are some of your favorite black actresses, from back in the day to present day?  What do you plan to do to celebrate Hapy Black Girl Day?  Until next time, I’m just a Southern girl…in the city!